BPI, RESNET or NATE?

Dallas Jones: Hi, I'm Dallas Jones with Green Training USA and I'm here in Washington, D.C. at the offices of the Building Performance Institute with their Executive Director, Larry Zarker. Larry, I have people ask me every day, "Should I get BPI certifications? Should I get NATE certification? Should I get RESNET certification? Which is the right certification?

Larry Zarker: It really depends on what you're trying to do. I think there's a real distinction between professionalism and bubba in a pickup truck and professionalism is important. I believe very much in the BPI certifications. I think that they help any individual understand what they're doing and commit to a higher bar. That's what we're about is a higher bar.

We are solely focused on existing residential buildings. So we don't do new construction at all. The RESNET designation as a rater allows you to go rate homes that are being built and to understand how well they're being done. That same process applies also to existing homes and RESNET has raters who do work on existing homes, as well.

It is a big market. There's a 130 million homes to done and we need to professionalize it and work collaboratively to make that happen.

Now the main designation it's for air conditioning and heating professionals. The technicians get that service ends installation certification for heating and air conditioning systems. Very important in the marketplace. We, at BPI, add heating and AC heat pump designation on top of that because what we're trying to do is we want to make sure that they do the installation correctly. That's what the main certifications cover.

But then we want to help them understand how to treat the comfort systems within the context of the whole house. How do all the systems interact? How do you get the load down and then design the comfort systems to work well together? So all of these certifications in the marketplace are important and we stand behind all of them.

Dallas: And they all work hand and hand.

Larry: We think so, yes.

Dallas: Okay. That's a great answer. Go to Green Training USA, RESNET certifications, NATE certifications and BPI certifications. If you're going to get those, the training is there at greentrainingusa.com.